The invention relates generally to telecommunications services, and more specifically to the provision of caller identification information to a called telecommunications service subscriber at a time when the called subscriber is already occupied with a prior call; this type of service is generally termed Caller ID Call Waiting.
1. Definitions
xe2x80x98Linexe2x80x99 refers either to a telephone line, to a Web address, or to any other type of communication channel which provides for voice connection to a subscriber in control of such a line, address or channel.
xe2x80x98Phone numberxe2x80x99 refers to an identifying text of character codes used to specify uniquely a line as defined above. The choice of character codes to be used is in part dependent on restrictions required for the type of communication channel to which the line belongs; in the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), only numbers or their dialing equivalents in telephone number format are allowable, while on the World Wide Web, any string of displayable characters which can be mapped to an Internet communication channel is usable.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Several prior art references address the signaling of a called party with information about the calling party, but fail to combine signaling features in the unique range of contexts and manners performed in the proposed invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,269 to Eisdorfer describes collecting information about the caller, such as the caller""s identity or the importance of the call, and provides a distinctive call waiting signal which may take the form of an audio announcement. Eisdorfer does not, however, provide for any application of the art in a voice-over-IP network, nor does it explicitly spell out the use of a database to map caller identification to a desired course of action, nor does it provide for cut-through of real-time one-way signaling directly from the caller.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,742 to Khalid et al. creates a pass-code-based distinction among callers, manifested only through distinctive ringing. It offers no voice-based customization of called party notifications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,128 to McMullin notifies an on-line computer user of the presence of an incoming telephone call, links the computer to the incoming call over the Internet, and provides for completion of the call using the computer""s Internet connection. McMullin does not, however, provide for one-way cut-through of real-time signaling directly from the caller as a substitute for the ring signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,406 to Luneau provides for presentation of calling party announcement to the called party, but makes no provision for such presentation in a Call Waiting scenario.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,009 to Diamond et al. describes a method of signal attenuation during Call Waiting signaling, but offers no customization of the Call Waiting signaling itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,867 to Epler et al. describes methods of signaling during Call Waiting, but fails to address its operation on the World Wide Web.
An audio alerting announcement signals a called party during another ongoing call. The invention allows a telephony call-waiting subscriber to customize Call Waiting indicators in order to give immediate recognition of caller or caller classification via audio signaling. The caller or caller classification is based on the calling party""s Line Number ID. This capability is not restricted to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) environment, but will function equally well in a voice-over-IP telephony network as well, on a network such as the World Wide Web, or will function in a-hybrid system containing elements of both PSTN and voice-over-IP networks.